This study focuses the emerging need for young people to critically respond to alarming messages in contemporary media highlighting the potential benefits or harms of certain foods. Besides being technical, advancements in the field of nutrition reported in media are often of tentative and speculative character, primarily selected and constructed on the basis of their news value rather than as representing established knowledge. The study aims to study students’ capabilities to navigate and critically respond to controversial media messages about health and nutrition in the context of science education. Our theoretical point of departure is in the concept “an examined life” in the critical reflection tradition of Socrates and the Stoics. We analyze how groups of upper secondary science class students engage in critical examination of a controversial message about cow’s milk encountered through Swedish public service news media on the Internet. The results illuminate that even when controversial findings are produced by a reputed university and communicated through independent media, students are capable of discerning the need to scrutinize such findings and are capable of performing such critical examination drawing on experiences of scientific investigations. Students’ openness to question authoritative voices in society and to illuminate the new findings on milk from multiple perspectives reflects how “an examined life” may be enacted in the context of science education. Inviting students to participate in related activities shows promise for enabling a critical examination of themselves and others in ways deemed important for democratic citizenship.

中文翻译：

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浏览有关营养和健康的令人震惊的媒体消息

这项研究的重点是年轻人对当代媒体中强调某些食物的潜在益处或危害的惊人信息作出批判性回应的新兴需求。除了技术方面，媒体报道的营养领域的进步通常具有试探性和推测性，主要是根据新闻价值而不是代表既定知识来选择和构建的。该研究旨在研究学生在科学教育背景下导航和批判性回应有关健康和营养的有争议的媒体信息的能力。我们的理论出发点是苏格拉底和斯多葛学派批判性反思传统中的“经过检验的生活”概念。我们分析了一群高中科学班学生如何对通过瑞典公共服务新闻媒体在互联网上遇到的有关牛奶的有争议的信息进行批判性检查。结果表明，即使有争议的发现是由知名大学提出并通过独立媒体传播的，学生也能够辨别出审查这些发现的必要性，并能够利用科学调查的经验进行这种批判性的检查。学生对质疑社会权威声音的开放态度，以及从多个角度阐明关于牛奶的新发现，反映了在科学教育的背景下如何制定“经过审查的生活”。